People

Dr. Crane is excited to be back at BYU! Dr. Crane loves learning about the world, helping students reach there goals, and developing new technologies with great students. He completed his Bachelor’s ('98) and Masters ('99) degrees in Mechanical Engineering at BYU and appreciated the great experience that he had here. Since leaving BYU, he has completed a PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ('05), worked in industry (Pratt & Whitney), government lab (Sandia National laboratories), and Academia (University of South Florida, University of Sheffield).

Dr. Crane’s interests lay in the areas of design, materials and advanced manufacturing with a particular interest in additive manufacturing (AM) and digital microfluidics. His work focuses on applying material science, mechanical design, and processing science to enable novel manufacturing processes. Examples of recent projects include area-based AM through projection sintering, AM of radio-frequency (RF) electronics, microscale actuation using droplet microfluidics, biodegradation of magnesium, wetting transitions in textured surfaces and capillary self-assembly. His work has been recognized with an NSF graduate research fellowship, the 2005 Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium (SFF) Best Paper Award, a 2014 Fulbright Scholar, and a 2015 USF Outstanding Faculty Award.

He has been the principal investigator on over $2.5 million in funding from government, private foundations, and industry. The research work has generated more than 45 journal articles, 4 patents, and over 40 conference publications.

Studying electrowetting actuation as part of his Ph.D.

David Parsi received his first Master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran, in 2014, and his second Master’s degree in mechatronics engineering from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada in 2018. He won several awards such as the Research and Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador through the Industrial Research and Innovation Fund and Arctic TECH R&D Award. His research was supported partially by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Currently, he is a Ph.D. Candidate at Brigham Young University. He developed a wide range of skills such as calibration, 3D printing, 3D CAD software, and FEA software. His current research interests include solid command of technologies, CAD design, finite element analysis, control, optimization, vibration analysis, microfluidics, calibration, electrowetting, Stereolithography 3-D printing, additive manufacturing, and MEMS design.

Selected publications:

[1] Parsi, Behzad, and Tyler Stevens. "Design of Circular Piezoelectric Actuator for a Microfluidic Reconfigurable Radio Frequency Switch." Journal of Applied Engineering Mathematics December 8 (2021):1-8.

[2] Parsi, Behzad, and Lihong Zhang. "Design and optimization of cost-effective coldproof portable enclosures for polar environment." International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE) 0.6 (2020): 6251-6259.

[3] Parsi, Behzad, Lihong Zhang, and Vlastimil Masek. "Disposable off-chip micro-dispenser for accurate droplet transportation." IEEE Sensors Journal 19.2 (2018): 575-586.

[4] Parsi, Behzad, Lihong Zhang, and Vlastimil Masek. "Vibration analysis of a double circular PZT actuator for a valveless micropump." Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering International Congress, Toronto, Canada (2018).

[5] Kaviani, Samira, et al. "A modeling and vibration analysis of a piezoelectric micro-pump diaphragm." Comptes Rendus Mécanique 342.12 (2014): 692-699.

[6] Parsi, B., et al. "Calibration verification of a low-cost method for MEMS accelerometers." Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control 36.5 (2014): 579-587.

Contact
bparsi@byu.edu

I am a graduate student working on ways to improve the additive manufacturing process known as Binder Jetting. I've been married since 2015 and since then my wife and I have welcomed a son who is now two and we are expecting a baby sister. Outside of my research, I enjoy board games, hiking, and road trips.

Studying the future of manufacturing as part of his PhD.

Shu Wang is an international student from China. He obtained his MS at Washington State University (2020). His research interest is on additive manufacturing and is currently working on binder jetting as part of his PhD. He is very excited to be working in Dr. Crane’s lab.

Mechanical Engineering Master's student studying Large Area Projection Sintering, a recently developed Additive Manufacturing process. Focusing on the impact of density/porosity on mechanical properties of parts produced using LAPS.

Studied the LAPS process as part of his master's degree. Utilizing the unique advantages of the LAPS process to understand the impact of temperature history on resulting material properties.

Studied the binder jetting process as part of his masters degree.

Studied metal composition control as part of his master's degree.

Studied defect detection in additive manufacturing as part of his master's degree.

MS ME Research:

• Developing quality assurance methods for additive manufacturing processes via thermography 
• Investigating the relationship between thermal diffusivity and moisture content of an AM powder bed

Publications: 

Wallace, N. J., Jones, M. R., & Crane, N. B. (2020). Spectral Absorption Coefficient of Additive Manufacturing Materials. Journal of Thermal Science and Engineering Applications, 1-28.doi: https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4048836

Wallace, N. J., Jones, M. R., & Crane, N. B. (2020). Spectral Absorption Coefficient of Additive Manufacturing Polymers. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/spacegrant/2020/papers/3/

Wallace, N. J. (2019). Preliminary Modeling of Active Thermography for Additive Manufacturing Applications. Journal of Applied Engineering Mathematics, 6,1.

Contact: 
njw37@byu.edu